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Record-breaking warmth is in metro Detroit's forecast, with highs in the 60s this weekend.

"You can probably put your heavy coats away, but you need to have an umbrella handy," National Weather Service meteorologist Deb Elliott said, adding that chances of rain increase from 40% Saturday to 70% Monday.

With parts of southern Michigan in moderate drought, a little moisture could be welcomed. After two very cold, very snowy winters, it appears that now we get to exchange buzzwords "polar vortex" with "El Niño," which tends to bring warmer, drier weather to Michigan.

The record high temperatures for Saturday and Sunday are 61 and 60, set in 1949 and 1881, respectively. The latest forecast predicts high temperatures of 60 on Saturday and 62 on Sunday. The normal highs this time of December are in the upper 30s, according to the weather service.

Elliott said metro Detroit's precipitation this year is about 27 inches, which is below the normal of about 32 inches. The U.S. Drought Monitor shows a wide area across southern Michigan, including a big chunk of Wayne County, to be in "moderate drought."

El Niño involves a condition where surface water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean rise, interact with winds and influence weather patterns in North America and worldwide. It often means a rainier winter in the western and southern U.S., cooler temperatures in Texas and the southern Plains States, and warmer temperatures and less snow and rain in the Midwest.